Aeris Echo-Hohenzollern
Name: Aeris Echo-Hohenzollern Alias: 'Echo' (Given name and name used when 'undercover') Race: Britannian Birthday: 17th August Age: 31 Hobbies: Smoking and drinking when off-duty, boxing for exercise Powers/Abilities: Knightmare Ace There is no doubt that Echo is one of the best Knightmare pilots Britannia possess, maybe even on a par with members of the Knights of the Round. She is brilliant in combat, equally happy in close assault or a protracted firefight. She’s not a great tactician, but competent enough not to get herself or her troops killed out of careless mistake. Two-Hands The name given to Echo by an army captain upon witnessing her prowess with her two semi-automatic pistols. There can be few better gunfighters in Britannia. It is a skill she uses less these days (due to being a knightmare pilot), but she is still widely respected and feared for her skill. Strengths: Physically strong with a body honed through years of military drill and training, brilliant with conventional small arms, and an ace Knightmare pilot. Personality wise she’s tenacious, determined and incredibly dangerous when sent into a rage. Weaknesses: Her temper and her tongue constantly combine to ruin all her good work on the battlefield, as she often insults her superiors in a seemingly self-destructing fashion. She’s smart, but it’s military smart which is not the same as intelligent. Her anger can land her in trouble both in combat and in the mess-hall – she can still be as hotheaded as she was at 18. Rank: Warrior – Captain of the Elite Knightmare Company Red Wing, 2nd Royal Britannian Guard. Character Info: Aeris Echo-Hohenzollern was born into minor Britannian Gentry in the Eastern Region of Britannia, an area that was the first conquest of the Empire over 2200 years ago. Colloquially known as Avallonia the area was not subject to the same ethnic and cultural division that was later to be practiced by the Britannian Empire, and the then Emperor William VI even proclaimed the area to be the finest region in all of the Empire, building a Royal Palace there and establishing full citizenship rights for all members of the Avallonian populace. The people of Avallonia have since considered themselves as Britannian as any person born in the heartland, and enjoy all the same rights. Indeed, Avallonia has a proud tradition of serving in the Imperial military stretching back to the conquest, producing many war heroes and generals over the generations. It was into this tradition that Aeris Hohenzollern entered at the tender age of eight. It was decided early in her life that Aeris would make a poor candidate for education as a ‘Lady of Breeding’, and instead her father enrolled her in the Youth Cadet Corps, where she spent her time up until her 14th birthday. Even as a member of the lower upper-class Aeris was still entitled to a place in a state military academy, which is exactly where she continued to. Though she had not shown any exceptional ability so far, she truly came into her own during the intense training and discipline of the Military Academy’s Curriculum. However, despite coming the top of her class she was still passed over for knighthood and acceptance into the Avallonian governor’s household guard due to her lower social status, and this has directly affected her view of the world ever since. Still, in some senses she was lucky, even if she doesn’t see it that way. On graduating the Academy with full honors she was posted to the State Guard and made a Lieutenant. A year of good service saw her transferred to a frontline unit in the latest campaign. Given command of a wing of then new Knightmare Frame Units, the Glasgows, Aeris, or Echo as she then preferred to be known, earned three commendations and a medal for her display of superior piloting skills that lead to the capture of key positions during an operation to capture the enemy capital. Though she was once again looked over for Knighthood, she was promoted to First Lieutenant and transferred to a Knightmare specific division. Her skill with the machines was highly exceptional, and her superiors often used her expertise to justify her continued service in the face of serious disciplinary infractions whilst using her record and status to hold her back from promotion. It was whilst in this division that she formed a temporary guard at the Royal Aries Villa, and witnessed the events shortly after the murder of Empress Marianne vi Britannia. She believes that it was a terrorist attack, and has never seen reason to question otherwise. Still, Marianne’s loss was her gain. She received another transfer out to the frontline once again and earned more commendations and another promotion to Captain. She also earned her status as a Knightmare Ace, ratcheting up more kills during conventional operations than any other participating pilots. Even though she received another medal she was still denied a knighthood in the light of her increasingly long disciplinary record and low status compared to her peers. So she spent the next years on an extended tour of duty across the outlying reaches of the Empire, including Area 11. She was placed in command of an Elite Knightmare wing in a newly formed regiment of the Royal Guard. Widely purported by members of her unit to be a match for any Royal Knight behind the controls of a Knightmare, Echo has nonetheless remained merely a useful pawn so far for the Britannian high command, though this is partly her own fault. After slandering and striking a Duke during her latest campaign she has been (temporarily) reassigned to Special Operations on Earth, away from her Knightmare and most Britannian nobility. As a person Echo is a deadly mix of a disjointed form of self-discipline and anarchic fury. Often this is what lands her in trouble, unwittingly feeding the bitter cycle that keeps her from attaining the knighthood she has felt deserving of since the age of 18. Her relationships, the few that there have been, have always ended badly. She counts her troops as her friends, but at the same time she is their superior and always acts as such. Although she may loathe the majority of the upper-echelon ‘bluebloods’ she is as much a noble as any of them when it comes to the social order – she is no social revolutionary regarding anyone but herself. Often bitter and sarcastic when not in the drunken delight of battle she makes for poor company. NPC: No Echo's Knightmare Frame Type: Standard-Custom Model: KZR-02 Sheffield Name: ‘Ironside’ Allegiance: Britannian Pilot Name: Aeris Echo-Hohenzollern Regular Armament: * Slash Harken x2 * Series Five assault rifle x1 * Anti-personal machine gun x2 * Maser Vibration Sword x1 (concealed) Special Armament: * Repeating Autocannon - The KZR-02 can be equipped with a long barrelled repeating autocannon. It has a longer range than an assault rifle and fires large artillery shells. It is more accurate than a standard autocannon and has a quicker rate of fire. It can only carry a limited magazine capacity and is primarily designed to destroy slow-moving or large targets, making it clumsy and unfeasible in close combat. When equipped with this cannon the KZR-02 suffers from some loss of agility and an increased strain on the generator system. Special Systems: * Command Communications System - This enables Echo’s knightmare to communicate across greater distance and over a wider number of frequencies, allowing her to command her unit more effectively. * Experimental Electromagnetic Shield - This is a small shield generator stored in the left forarm. It can project a small shield to defend against enemy fire that can be angled to achieve greater protection. It is however small and covers roughly one side of the knightmare from the front. High powered energy shots are likely to disable or break through it. Weight: Medium Strengths: Improved armour and targeting systems over previous standard models. Controls specially configured and optimised for Echo’s piloting style. Dangerous in close combat and manoeuvrable for its size. Weaknesses: Large power drain for the updated targeting systems makes the use of energy weapons and systems limited. Tricky to maintain in good condition as hard to fix without certain custom parts. Description: The next generation of mass production model to follow the Gloucester and the Sutherland, the Sheffield is nonetheless still a rare sight in Imperial Armies due to delays in testing and the theft of several prototype models from the test facility by Haumean Rebels. The Sheffield has improved overall performance on the Sutherland models, particularly in terms of armour and targeting systems. Echo’s own personal Sheffield is the ‘Ironside’. Featuring a few upgraded systems it is the command prototype for a future model. She is cruelly efficient in its use, and its superior abilities compared to other standard frames make it a good all-rounder against all current generation combat frames.